Avatar: The Legend Begins
by KarmaHope
Summary: A lion-turtle once told Aang, "In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves." Where did the Legend of the Avatar start? What was energybending, and how did elementbending come to be? Meet 16 year old Ren Peijing who 10,000 years ago in a time of turmoil, was chosen to be the Earth Spirit's advocate. The first Avatar- this is how it began.
1. Opening

"_In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves. To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable or you will be corrupted and destroyed._"  
— The lion turtle teaching Avatar Aang about the nature of energybending

* * *

**A long, long time ago . . .**

Ten thousand years before Avatar Aang was born, there lived a simple farm boy named Ren Peijing. He lived in dark times- five hundred years prior, one man had discovered the secrets to bending the elements using the principles of energy bending. Upon his death and the passing of the knowledge to his son, the new concept began to make its way out into the masses.

The people were thrilled that the ancient ways were no longer kept within the tribes of the mystic energy benders. They were enthralled with the power that bending bestowed upon them. Those that could bend chose one element to work with, and they worked hard to master their element to become the most powerful of them all.

This is where things fell down. When people have power, they feel the compelling urge to use that power. They feel the need to prove that they are the most powerful. This leads to fighting, and fighting leads to prejudice and hatred. The people began squabbling among themselves, unable to agree on which way to do things. Gangs formed, and benders began fighting one another for supremacy. It wasn't long before the entire world was caught up in this malevolence. Over the years, the minor squabbles morphed into a full out free-for-all war. It was every man for himself, and there were no defined sides.

The large civil war continued, ravaging the countryside as the elements needed for bending were used. One would often walk and see large pitholes in the ground, or see a lake only half-full of muddy water. Forests were often charred or burned to the ground. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, was getting fed up with the way that the humans were disrespecting the world around them. Something needed to be done about the problem.

She spent a year searching for the person that could turn the tide of the Bending War. Eventually, she came across Ren Peijing- a small-town farmer's boy that had no bending to speak of, but a heart and the compassion that far outranked that of the average human being. Seeing this, Gaia bestowed upon him the ability to change the world.

**The Legend began.**

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"_The Avatar must be compassionate toward all people, and the only way to do that is to live with them. The Avatar must experience sadness, anger, joy, and happiness. By feeling all these emotions, it helps you understand how precious human life is, so you will do anything to protect it._"  
— Avatar Yangchen to Avatar Aang


	2. Book 1 Part 01: Gaia's Debate

_**KarmaHope:**__  
So, this is our first Avatar story, born from a get-together we had and my need to have a 'how' and a 'why.' I know that we've done the same thing as everyone else with having an OC as the Avatar, but honestly I hope that this will be quite different from everything else. We will be answering questions that you've probably had while watching the series. And it's fun to write! So yeah._

_**Bookfreak1317  
**__I do hope you guys enjoy this story. My cousin and I came up with this idea while we were having an _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ marathon. Sadly, my cousin is only a reader and not a writer, so she's not involved with this story :( Thankfully, I'm friends with KarmaHope and she really wanted to turn the idea into a story, so here we are! And if it wasn't for her, this wouldn't be half as good!_

_So without further ado, here you are- the first chapter of _The Legend Begins_!_

Somewhere, deep in the plain of existence that most humans had no idea existed, Gaia watched the destruction of her own embodiment. For five hundred years, the Earth spirit had been left with no other option but to sit back and watch in pained horror as the mortals tore her very soul apart. She had never wanted to be a weapon, never wanted the inhabitants of her thriving planet to turn upon themselves. She had never wanted it, but in the past few centuries, it had happened all the same.

She should have expected it, really. With all the flaws that the humans held within themselves, it was almost a surefire fact that at some point in time the balance would fall out. Some would hold more power than others, and the delicate balance of life would tip and wobble until the entire thing came crashing down and chaos would reign supremacy.

It physically hurt her. Every time a firebender would burn down a forest or an earthbender ripped up chunks of the land, the spirit would feel it as if she were right there. Every time a waterbender drained the rivers and lakes or an airbender flattened the surroundings with hurricane-strength winds, she winced in pain at the damage caused to her physical form. She cursed the mortals for being so ignorant, for being so disrespectful to both her and the land around them.

Gaia wondered if the foolish humans even knew what they were doing, or if the hate and prejudice and thrill of power clouded their vision so much that they could no longer see. Did they see that whenever they burned down a forest, they lost the wood to build their fires? When they emptied a lake, did they realize that they wasted the one most precious resource? When they carved great holes in the ground, did they even think about the fields that they would need for the next year's crops?

They were killing the Earth and by extension, they were slowly killing themselves as well.

If this went on for much longer, there would no longer be anything else to kill. The Earth would be dead, the mortals would be dead, and all the innocent creatures that made their homes in the war-ravaged land would be dead as well. And once the world was dead, Gaia would slowly begin to fade out of existence until she was no more. There wouldn't even be a memory remaining.

Taking a deep breath, the Earth spirit made up her mind. She could no longer just sit back in the celestial plain, watching as the world was slowly pushed toward the edge of destruction. She was a spirit, she needed to do something. What, she did not know yet, but she would figure it out.

She closed her eyes to the chaos that lie before her and let her mind wander. She wandered back in her memories of days ago, months ago, years and centuries ago. It was all the same to her. She never forgot anything. She went back the five hundred years before, when the world had begun its downhill slide. She thought back to the origin of elementbending, the man that had discovered it, and the energybenders that had preceded that. The energybenders that had since died out or given up their old ways in order to keep up with the bellicose form of the new bending.

That was where the problem started, she decided, and that was where the problem would end.

If she could bring back the old ways from the time of the energybenders, perhaps the element benders could find some resemblance of peace among themselves. The energybenders had used their art to pass knowledge from one person to another, but along the line, that knowledge had been lost. Maybe that lost knowledge was what the world needed to come to peace with the four new types of bending that had appeared. Perhaps then the pointless fighting would cease, and the destruction of Earth could be avoided.

Gaia gazed back down to earth and watched in horror as a group of firebenders burnt down their earthbending neighbors' houses, along with great patches of earth nearby. Somewhere else, waterbenders were flooding a small colony of airbenders that had grouped together, emptying a nearby lake in the course of their malice. As she helplessly watched the violent acts of hate and prejudice, she desperately tried to think of a way to reintroduce the old ways- to show the humans the consequence their actions were causing.

She now knew what course of action she wanted to take. The only problem remaining was _how_. If she just granted a few non-bender humans the power of energybending, they would not realize what it was. Energybending was an art that had been lost for over a hundred years now. Even if they did realize what power they had been given, they would only end up using the power to bend an element of their choice when pressed to fight. They would then be caught up in the maelstrom of the problems that they were supposed to be trying to fix in the first place.

Though, she thought, maybe if they all had pure and benevolent spirits, perhaps they could work together. It was a small hope, but she quickly shot it down. Even with pure spirits, humans all had their own personalities. There would definitely come a time when two or three of the chosen group would rub each other the wrong way. When this happened, there was no telling how serious things may get. The rest of the group may have to choose sides. They might resort to exchanging blows. Either way, the small band of mortals would no longer be able to work harmoniously, rather falling into the chaos that the rest of the world was facing.

Even if they did manage to work together and pass on the knowledge of the old ways with energybending, who was to say that the rest of the humans would listen? They were so entrenched in their views and prejudices that even if they did listen, human nature would get the better of them. They would still each want to prove themselves as the better bender, and would soon use their powers of knowledge selfishly. Or, if they felt threatened, they would learn a form of elementbending and resort back to fighting. If that happened, the rest of the world would fall to ruin once again.

The troubled Earth spirit let out a groan and rubbed her temples. She wanted to save the world and restore peace and harmony more than anything else in the cosmos. However, the very core nature of the foolish mortals was making things near-on impossible. It would be so much easier just to wipe out the entire human race, leaving the rest of the creatures to live in peace. She had done it once before, and though she hadn't enjoyed it at all, it had been the only way to save the Earth and by extension, herself. It was a desperate solution to a desperate situation, but right now, it seemed that it was the only way once again . . .

No. She wouldn't subject them to that once again. Her goal was for the mortals to live in peace with themselves, their neighbors, and their nature. Destroying them a second time would accomplish none of those things.

But they're destroying themselves perfectly well on their own, without your help . . . a little voice in the back of her mind whispered to her. Gaia sighed, as she knew that. She knew that, and she accepted that the very nature of the humans was destructive and bellicose. She knew that they were destroying themselves, but she wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe that they could fix their ways. However, she also knew that it would never happen unless they were given a violent shove in the right direction.

A young girl's tinkling laughter brought the Earth spirit's focus back onto the planet before her. It didn't take long before she locked onto a little girl that looked to be around five years old. Gaia envied the small child, living in a small village and playing in the river with her friends, unaware of the death and destruction that was being wrought around her. The kids were all laughing and smiling as they splashed in the water, occasionally dunking one another underneath the crystalline surface.

A few minutes passed before one of the older boys dunked the girl that had caught the spirit's attention under the water. When she came up spluttering, her nostrils flared angrily. Gaia watched in shock as a giant wave of water rose up from behind the girl and shoved everyone but the young waterbender underneath the surface. When all the kids finally recovered from the surprise attack, they all stared at the shocked girl for a moment or two before they all started laughing.

Gaia gave a small bittersweet smile at the sight. She remembered and greatly missed the time when all bending had been a novelty. Those were the times when the newly discovered elementbending had been used to help others. Those were the times when it had been used for fun, like the little girl had been doing. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end eventually. The Earth spirit knew that when the young girl got older, she too would be swept up by the hatred and prejudices. She would then not only be dunking people for fun, but with the intent to kill or harm them instead. It nearly broke her heart at the thought of it.

The spirit continued to watch over her domain as an older boy walked out of the nearby forest and approached the river, calling the young waterbender for dinner. Somehow she instinctively knew that this young man was the girl's older brother. She watched as the five year old proudly showed her older brother what she had done a few minutes previously, obviously excited at her newfound powers. Curious, she watched the boy for his reaction. Surprisingly, instead of being jealous of his sister's power as most non-benders of his age would be, he smiled a strained smile and congratulated her on her skills.

He helped her dry off with a towel, laughing and tickling the girl in revenge when she purposely shook her wet hair in his face. However, when his sister couldn't see his face, his true emotions showed through. Gaia could read them easily. He really was proud of his sister's skills, but at the same time, he knew what this meant for her. For them. He knew of the pain that it would eventually bring upon them, and he couldn't help but fear for his dear younger sister. When he pulled away from the girl to take her hand, he quickly masked his emotions once again. For now, he would protect his sister from the dangers that the outside world held in store.

With his actions, Gaia felt a newfound hope rising within her. The young man was what she hoped and wished what all humans would be. He was kind and gentle, loving and caring. He felt no anger or jealousy toward his sister because she could do something he couldn't- he only felt pride, love, and the fierce urge to protect her from what her future held in store for her. She could sense that he was a hard worker, with both the will and strength to achieve any goal that he set himself toward. If given the chance, he could become a strong leader someday- a leader to whom people would listen and look up to.

As these thoughts went tumbling through her head, the Earth spirit suddenly realized exactly what she had to do. It would take some work, and it definitely wasn't an immediate solution. Rather, it was a solution that would most likely take years to develop. However, if things worked out the way she hoped they would . . .

That boy would be the solution to all her problems.


End file.
